Louisiana and Aaron Burr 303 



too weak effectively to cope with the Americans, 

 and as the pressure upon them grew ever heavier 

 and more menacing they began to fear not only for 

 Louisiana but also for Mexico. They clung tena- 

 ciously to all their possessions; but they were will- 

 ing to sacrifice a part, if by so doing they could 

 erect a barrier for the defence of the remainder. 

 Such a chance was now seemingly offered them by 

 France. 



At the beginning of the century Napoleon was 

 First Consul; and the France over which he ruled 

 was already the mightiest nation in Europe, and yet 

 had not reached the zenith of her power. It was at 

 this time that the French influence over Spain was 

 most complete. Both the Spanish King and the 

 Spanish people were dazzled and awed by the splen- 

 dor of Napoleon's victories. Napoleon's magnifi- 

 cent and wayward genius was always striving after 

 more than merely European empire. As throne 

 after throne went down before him he planned con- 

 quests which should include the interminable wastes 

 of snowy Russia, and the sea-girt fields of England ; 

 and he always dreamed of yet vaster, more shadowy 

 triumphs, won in the realms lying eastward of the 

 Mediterranean, or among the islands and along the 

 coasts of the Spanish Main. In 1800 his dream of 

 Eastern conquest was over, but his lofty ambition 

 was planning for France the re-establishment in 

 America of that colonial empire which a generation 

 before had been wrested from her by England. 



The need of the Spaniards seemed to Napoleon 



